Sinker head for knitting machines



NOV. 25, 1952 A J COBERT 2,618,950

SINKER HEAD FOR KNITTING MACHINES Filed Nov. 4, 1950 g 7; I I

INVENTOR. ARTHUR J. COBERT AT TORNEY Patented Nov. 25, 1952 UNITED STAT ES PATENT O'F F IC E S'INKER HEAD FOR KNITTING MACHINES Arthur .J. Cohert, Chattanooga, .Tenn., .assignor .of one-half .to ,Bryan E. .Mills, jInc., Shat- Jtanooga, .YI-.enn.,,.a. corporation .ApplicationNovembcr 4, I950, SerialtNo. 194,110

.9 .Claims. 1

This invention relates to an improvedsinker .head tor-knitting.machines, ,andmore particularly :to sinker headsof straight bar, full-fashioned .hosiery machines; but the invention is also-'applicable toot-her :typeaof knitting machines comers most frequently in action cause the greatest wear, and this unevenness .in the wear results in :a lack :of 'uniformityin the operationof the sinkers and .thus causes still further trouble, and it is necessary from time to time to replace the complete header to recuttheslots. This reslotting is a time consuming-troublesome and costly proceeding, and-after the heads are -reslotted once ortwice theynnust be junked.

More recently it has been suggested to :provide the sinker head with :hard metal wear bars to guide the .sinkers in the slots, as shown in Pat- -ent No. 2,061,299, which was granted November 17, 1936 toFmy-father, the late Joseph Cobert. My invention is essentially an improvement in the construction-shown in-that patent.

An object ofmy invention is to-prvide asinker :head having wear bars arranged to provide bearing surfaces for the sinkers without undue tolerance.

Another object -f amy invention is to provide a sinker head in=which tolerance for the sinkers is quickly andeasily adjustable.

Another object of my invention is to provide .a sinker head in whichxthe necessity :forst-i-ffeni-ng screws .is .obviated.

and the cover part of thelhead.

Another object of my invention .is to :provide -a sinker head which is simple and easy to manufacture, rugged and durable in use, and accurate and eflicientin operation.

Other .and further objects :and advantages :of

my invention will be apparent the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which iike characters of :referencedesignate corresponding-parts throughout the :several views,-,and wherein:

Fig. -1 is .a -cross-sectionalrend -view of -a sinker head embodying my invention, and showing a sinker and divider in placetherein.

Fig. 2.is a fragmentaryperspective view of the sinkerhead'shown in Fig. :1, with the sinkers-and dividers removed.

Fig. 3 is-a cross-sectionalend view showing a detail.

Fig.4 is-a cross'sectional -view taken along the :line 4-4 in *Fig. .1.

.In the embodiment chosen for purpose-of illustration, the sinker head comprises a base [0 and a cover I], providedrrespectively with transverse slots 12, 13, within which the sinkers M and dividers l-.5iare-:accommodated for sliding movement as is well understood.

The upper face of the *base -10 is .provided with spaced longitudinal grooves i6, 16 within which the lower wear bars 11, H, respectively, are placed. The wear bars H, H are held' firmly in place by screws l.8, l-B' which extend upwardly through the base in and have their heads recessed in the lower face thereof. 'The wear bars I1, 11 are madeof steel or other wear resistant material.

The cover ll is'provided with spaced longitudinal slots I9, I93 which-extendvertically through the cover and within which the wear bars 20,-20', respectively, are adjustably held :by the screws 21,21, respectively, which-extend inwardly from the sides of the cover and have their heads recessed therein. .Each .of the wear bars 20, 29' is slotted, as best seen in Fig. 4 to permit the screws 32.1,.2 I" to pass therethroughand to afiord vertical :adjutment of the wear bars 20, 20' to provide and maintain proper tolerance for the transverse sliding movement of the sinkers and dividers.

Averge plate 22,.against which'the sinkers-are pressed by the 'slur 'cam (not shown) is :attached to the :head ,H in the customary manner, as by .bolts .23 (only one being shown).

A sinker head is usually .14 to 15 inches .in length between the .first and last .sinkers, and worleersin the prior .art have'found it very dimcult to fabricate the base and never without some bow .or curve in one of the sections. This is particularly true of the cover since it is usually thinner than the :base. When the cover does not :follow a true straight .line throughout its For example, if the cover should bow-downwardly at its center, then the center sinkers would be too tight, while the sinkers at the ends would be too loose. In order to overcome this difficulty, it has been common practice to place stiffening screws between the cover and the base about one-third the distance from each end. This presents a very difficult and complicated problem in manufacture. For example, in the case of a sixty gauge sinker head, the sinkers and dividers are spaced on .025" centers. These sinkers and dividers are .005" in thickness, which leaves a clearance of .020 between adjacent sinkers and dividers. In this clearance must be placed the stiffening screw. This is accomplished by machining the screw down to approximately .018 at its center portion and inserting it in the head before the sinkers are inserted. The screw must have a square shoulder at top and bottom, and the holes in the head must also be square to prevent the screw from turning while it is being tightened in the head. In order to be of any effect at all, this screw must be tightened against an outward bow of the cover, rather than an inward bow, to draw the parts of the head together. For this reason, prior art sinker heads have been made with an exaggerated outward bow in the cover so that the stiffening screws will have some efiect.

In my improved sinker head, stiffening screws are entirely eliminated. In the first place, my cover is made substantially heavier than normal, in order to receive the inserts, or wear bars. Then, if there is any bow in the head to start with, it will have no effect upon the finished product, because I do not depend upon the cover for the sinker clearance. My inserts are made in true line, hardened and ground this way, and then dropped into the slots in the cover. The straight line edge of the inserts bears against the sinkers, while the cover is spaced from them. In fact, I allow a clearance of .012" beaveen the top of the sinker and the cover, this being more than sufficient to take care of any bow in the head. Thus I eliminate manufacturing problems and obtain a greater degree of accuracy in the sinker tolerance to provide a more smoothly operating piece of machinery which will pro duce a more uniform and desirable product.

By providing hardened steel inserts, instead of having the sinkers ride in and on a long groove of brass, from which the sinker heads are usually fabricated, these inserts act as bearings, reducing the frictional resistance when the sinkers are retracted or moved forward by the slur cam. But the threeoint suspension of the prior art as found in Patent No. 2,061,299, could not be satisfactorily accomplished without undue tolerance. A three-point suspension is fine for clamping an object between surfaces; but, where the sinker must slide freely without undue tolerance, my construction is a great improvement. It will be noted that I provide a pair of fixed inserts ii, I? in the base, and a pair of vertically adjustable inserts 28, 2% in the cover; and it will be seen that the inserts in the cover are over and above the inserts in the base so that no threepoint clamping effect is had in my construction, although the inserts in the cover are separately adjustable and therefore afford easy adjustment for minimum clearance for the sinkers. The inserts in the base, lying beneath the inserts in the cover, need not be adjustable; but, if any of the inserts become worn on a face, they can be easily taken out and turned over to use the opposite face.

Having thus described my invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that many modifications and changes can be made in the embodiment illustrated wtihout departing from the scope of my invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a sinker head for knitting machines, a base, a cover on said base, said base and said cover being transversely slotted to slidably receive a plurality of sinkers therebetween, said base being provided with a plurality of wear bars to bear against said sinkers, said wear bars extending slightly beyond the bottom of the transverse slots in said base, said cover being provided with a plurality of wear bars, said last mentioned wear bars being adjustably fixed to said cover, said last mentioned wear bars being adjustable to extend a desired distance beyond the bottom of the transverse slots in said cover, said wear bars on said base and said wear bars on said cover being arranged in pairs with each wear bar on said cover opposite a wear bar on said base.

2. In a sinker head for knitting machines, a base, a cover on said base, said base and said cover being transversely slotted to slidably receive a plurality of sinkers therebetween, said base being provided in its face adjoining said cover with a plurality of longitudinal grooves, wear bars in said grooves, said cover being provided with a plurality of longitudinal slots extending inwardly from the face of said cover adjoining said base, and wear bars removably positioned in said slots in said cover, said last mentioned wear bars being adjustably held in said longituidnal slots in said cover and being adjustable to extend a desired distance beyond the bottom of the transverse slots in said cover, said wear bars in said base and said wear bars in said cover being arranged in pairs with each wear bar in said cover opposite a wear bar in said base.

3. In a sinker head for knitting machines, a base, a cover on said base, said base and said cover being transversely slotted to slidably re ceive a plurality of sinkers therebetween, said base being provided in its face adjoining said cover with a plurality of longitudinal grooves, wear bars in said grooves, said wear bars being removably fixed in said grooves, said wear bars extending slightly beyond the bottom of the transverse slots in said base, said cover being provided with a plurality of longitudinal slots extending inwardly from the face of said cover adjoining said base, and Wear bars removably positioned in said slots in said cover, said last mentioned wear bars being adjustably held in said longitudinal slots in said cover, said last mentioned wear bars being adjustable to extend a desired distance beyond the bottom of the transverse slots in said cover, said wear bars in said base and said wear bars in said cover being arranged in pairs with each wear bar in said cover opposite a wear bar in said base.

4. In a sinker head for knitting machines, a base, a cover on said base, said base and said cover being transversely slotted to slidably receive a plurality of sinkers therebetween, said base being provided in its face adjoining said cover with a plurality of longitudinal grooves, wear bars in said grooves, said wear bars being removably fixed in said grooves, said wear bars extending slightly beyond the bottom of the transverse slots in said base, said cover being provided With a plurality of longitudinal slots eX- tending inwardly from the face of said cover adjoining said base, and wear bars removably positioned in said slots in said cover, said last mentioned wear bars being adjustably held in said longitudinal slots in said cover, said last mentioned wear bars being individually adjustable to extend a desired distance beyond the bottom of the transverse slots in said cover, said wear bars in said base and said wear bars in said cover being arranged in pairs with each wear bar in said cover opposite a wear bar in said base.

5. In a sinker head for knitting machines, a base, a cover on said base, said base and said cover being transversely slotted to slidably receive a plurality of sinkers therebetween, said base being provided in its face adjoining said cover with a plurality of longitudinal grooves, wear bars in said grooves, said wear bars being removably fixed in said grooves, said wear bars extending slightly beyond the bottom of the transverse slots in said base, said cover being provided with a plurality of longitudinal slots extending through said cover from the face thereof adjoining said base to the opposite face, and wear bars removably positioned in said slots in said cover, said last mentioned wear bars being adjustably held in said longitudinal slots in said cover, said last mentioned wear bars being adjustable to extend a desired distance beyond the bottom of the transverse slots in said cover, said wear bars in said base and said wear bars in said cover being arranged in pairs with each wear bar in said cover opposite a wear bar in said base.

6. In a sinker head for knitting machines, a base, a cover on said base, said base and said cover being transversely slotted to slidably receive a plurality of sinkers therebetween, said base being provided in its face adjoining said cover with a plurality of longitudinal grooves, wear bars in said grooves, said wear bars being removably fixed in said grooves, said wear bars extending slightly beyond the bottom of the transverse slots in said base, said cover being provided with a plurality of longitudinal slots extending through said cover from the face thereof adjoining said base to the opposite face, and wear bars removably positioned in said slots in said cover, said last mentioned wear bars being adjustably held in said longitudinal slots in said cover, said last mentioned wear bars being individually adjustable to extend a desired distance beyond the bottom of the transverse slots in said cover, said wear bars in said base and said wear bars in said cover being arranged in pairs with each wear bar in said cover opposite a wear bar in said base.

7. In a, sinker head for knitting machines, a base, a cover on said base, said base and said cover being transversely slotted to slidably receive a plurality of sinkers therebetween, said base being provided in its face adjoining said cover with a plurality of longitudinal grooves, wear bars in said grooves, said wear bars being removably fixed in said grooves, said wear bar extending slightly beyond the bottom of the transverse slots in said base, said cover being provided with a plurality of longitudinal slots extending inwardly from the face of said cover adjoining said base, and wear bars removably positioned in said slots in said cover, said last mentioned wear bars being adjustably held in said longitudinal slots in said cover by fastening means extending inwardly from the sides of said cover, said last mentioned wear bars being slotted for cooperation with said fastening means so that said wear bars in said cover can be individually adjusted to extend a desired distance beyond the bottom of the transverse slots in said cover, said wear bars in said base and said wear bars in said cover being arranged in pairs with each wear bar in said cover opposite a wear bar in said base.

8. In a sinker head for knitting machines, a base, a cover on said base, said base and said cover being transversely slotted to slidably receive a plurality of sinkers therebetween, said base being provided in its face adjoining said cover with a plurality of longitudinal grooves, wear bars in said grooves, said wear bars being removably fixed in said grooves, said wear bars extending slightly beyond the bottom of the transverse slots in said base, said cover being provided with a plurality of longitudinal slots extending through said cover from the face thereof adjoining said base to the opposite face, and wear bars removably positioned in said slots in said cover, said last mentioned wear bars being adjustably held in said longitu dinal slots in said cover by fastening means extending inwardly from the sides of said cover, said last mentioned wear bars being slotted for cooperation with said fastening means so that said wear bars in said cover can be individually adjusted to extend a desired distance beyond the bottom of the transverse slots in said cover, said wear bars in said base and said wear bars in said cover being arranged in pairs with each wear bar in said cover opposite a Wear bar in said base.

9. In a sinker head for knitting machines, a base, a cover on said base, said base and said cover being transversely slotted to slidably receive a plurality of sinkers therebetween, said base being provided in its face adjoining said cover with a plurality of longitudinal grooves, wear bars in said grooves, said wear bars being removably fixed in said grooves by means extending through said base from a face opposite said first mentioned face, said wear bars extending slightly beyond the bottom of the transverse slots in said base, said cover being provided with a plurality of longitudinal slots extending through said cover from the face thereof adjoining said base to the opposite face, and wear bars removably positioned in said slots in said cover, said last mentioned wear bars being adjustably held in said longitudinal slots in said cover by fastening means extending inwardly from the sides of said cover, said last mentioned wear bars being slotted for cooperation with said fastening means so that said wear bars in said cover can be individually adjusted to extend a desired distance beyond the bottom of the transverse slots in said cover, said wear bars in said base and said wear bars in said cover being arranged in pair with each wear bar in said cover opposite a wear bar in said base.

ARTHUR J. COBERT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,061,299 Cobert Nov. 17, 1936 2,154,384 Richter Apr. 11, 1939 2,178,911 Lawson Nov. 7, 1939 2,384,451 Brumbach Sept. 11, 1945 2,562,435 Parthum July 31, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 511,787 Great Britain Aug. 24, 1939 

